Chapter Two

Ethan

There's something about Los Angeles nights that makes you feel alive, as if the city is pulsing underneath your skin even while you're still. The subtle aroma of the evening shower's rain, the noise of traffic below the balcony... Every single object has a pulse.

I wasn't meant to be here. Not this late, not in this area of the home, and most definitely not lingering outside her art studio, pondering why I had let her speak on the phone to persuade me to do so.

She'd said, "Just five minutes... "A strong pair of hands is necessary to assist me in moving a canvas.”

Five minutes....